Bonshaw

Resurrecting an old thread on Frank's humor, after his latest auction, I noticed this bio for him in a poetry anthology. Frank S. Robinson is a graduate of NYU Law School (1970), and served at the New York Public Service Commission as staff counsel and then administrative law judge (1977-97). He is the author of eight books including Albany’s O’Connell Machine(1973), Children of the Dragon (a novel), The Case for Rational Optimism (2009), and Love Poems. Robinson is a professional coin dealer. He is married to the poet Therese Broderick and has a daughter, Elizabeth. Robinson was appointed to the U.S. Assay Commission by President Nixon in 1972. In 1969, he was the first man to walk on the moon. Kind of an interesting bio, but also note the deadpan last line.

This is excellent context

I remember when my father, back in the 1970s, wanted to buy some modern forgeries of ancient coins. He was interested, and he wanted to get an idea of whether he could tell they were fake. (There was no Internet of course) He went to multiple coin shops, and every dealer he spoke to told him that they never got forgeries. He thought this very unlikely to be true, and concluded that 1) they thought it would be bad for business to even admit that it happens, or 2) they were worried about liability for accusing their source and not being able to prove their allegations. Perhaps 50 years later, some of the reasons may be the same.

Happy Sunday! Unfortunately, I'll have a week delay in posting coin #7/83 of my father's collection. I'm up against some deadlines. As I said at the beginning, I would post *less than* a coin a week (because of life). I'll be back at it next week.

Oh I like this - it made a fascinating frame for this electrum Lydia lion, rather than extending it: And another one, where it took the task more literally:

@rasiel, this is a remarkable contribution! I have been looking through Coryssa, and it will benefit my personal research (in archaic Lydian die studies) very much. Kudos. I will do my main post-2000 auction searching on acsearch to keep load off of your computer, but this is an outstanding benefit to the community.

Beautiful, have you ever used it with cream?

It depends on your perspective. I consider Oliver Cromwell as an interesting historical figure, and would be fascinated to own something he valued. But tell that to the Irish The venom in Terry Woods voice when he sings! A curse upon you Oliver Cromwell, you who raped our Motherland I hope you're rotting down in hell for the horrors that you sent To our misfortunate forefathers whom you robbed of their birthright "To hell or Connaught" may you burn in hell tonight This is one 17th century figure who is not yet a "normal" historical person.

I have one of these that isn't going into the smelter. Because mine is bronze. Bronze would have to go up in price a lot to smelt it! I love Kristín Þorkelsdóttir's art, and I love Iceland (although I've only spent one week there back in the 90s). For those interested, here is a link to Kristín Þorkelsdóttir's banknotes: Kristin Thorkelsdóttir – Numista It is interesting to compare the two identical medals, in bronze and silver. Some medals look a lot better in silver. Some look a lot better in bronze. I like the looks of this one better in bronze. Obviously, this is a purely subjective statement. I'm preparing a post comparing some of the Panticapaeum satyr coins, with very similar satyr representations in both bronze and gold. This is another opportunity for this comparison, in an ancient context with very skilled artisans in both metals.

Happy Sunday! It is time for the next coin from my father's collection, #6/83. An older coin, a denarius from the Roman republic, caught my attention. First, I'd like to thank everyone for the amazing information and details they provided about last week's follis, including @Jims,Coins, @theotokevoithi, and @quant.geek. And I very much enjoyed the tangential discussions that were spawned. Coin: 6/83 Ruler: Roman Republic, 89-88 BC Identification: S 217 (from the dealer's coin flip) I found this in my father's 1st edition Sear "Roman Coins and their values," 1964, with this info: "C. Vibius C.f. Pansa (89-88 BC) Laur. hd. of Apollo r., PANSA behind, symbol beow chin. R. Minerva in quadriga r., C. VIBIUS C.F. in ex. B.1" listed as value 50/- in VF (the dealer listed this coin as F) Type: AG Denarius Location: unlisted Weight: 3.415 g Width: 19.0 mm Height: 19.0 mm Thickness (flan): 1.57 mm Purchase date: July 29, 1971 Vendor: Alfred Szego, Box 427, Oakdale, N.Y. 11769 Purchase price: $8.50 (+ 0.30 p/h + 0.35 "special handling" - the latter for faster delivery, apparently) I googled Alfred Szego, he was a fascinating guy. He is widely published in botany and numismatics; in Botany, he was an expert on American chestnut blight, a topic that I find extremely interesting. But that is a rabbit trail... Here is the photo. It looks nice in hand, with some mellow luster, and some black encrustations: Here is the envelope that it came in: And here is the invoice: And finally, here is the notecard my father wrote to accompany the coin: I love that quadriga! Now I'll be researching chariot racing, and also figuring out what PANSA means... Thanks everyone for posting related coins, historical notes, numismatic details, everything that is making this journey rediscovering my father's collection so rewarding.

I love that you are posting your father's coins here too. This one also has a beautiful patina.

This coin is in beautiful condition, and the blue-green patina is gorgeous

It is fun seeing how your father organized his collection

@DonnaML, I find your exonumia fascinating, as well as many of the others posted here. Could you please say something about what the boundaries are on your exonumia? Is there a particular date range in scope? Is Essaie money relevant here? Example - this is one of mine, a model crown from 1848 that I like a lot - it has bicolor gilt. I'm wondering if this is in scope of this Exonumia forum?

@Restitutor, I think it would be very useful if there were a forum where useful general information for ancient coin collectors could be captured from some of these discussions. This thread is an example. It is bringing together, through the input of many forum participants, the current state of guarantees of authenticity for slabbed ancient coins provided by the TPG slab companies (NGC and ANACS), and auction houses / dealers (CNG, Heritage, Stacks-Bowers, Great Collections, Davissons...), and how those guarantees of the slab companies and the auction houses / dealers interact. This is important stuff, some of the information is confusing to even some experts here, and it would be great to have it "pinned" somewhere for reference. The "Forum Rules and FAQs" folder seems to be more administrative. Is there anywhere we could put a summary post of all the information in this thread that would be more accessible in the future?